State water official says more work needed as SGMA evolves

By Christine Souza

The California State Water Resources Control Board heard an update on implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which requires local agencies to bring groundwater basins into balance by 2040 and 2042. 

Under SGMA, critically overdrafted groundwater basins have until 2040 to achieve sustainability. Since 2020, when groundwater agencies submitted their sustainability plans, they have also been required to avoid undesirable results that include lowering of groundwater levels, seawater intrusion, water quality degradation, land subsidence and depletions of interconnected surface water. 

If the agencies do not have an adequate plan, SGMA gives the state the authority to step in through a state intervention process that lasts until the agencies demonstrate adequate management of their basins. 

Since 2023, the California Department of Water Resources has determined that plans for seven basins were inadequate. In March 2023, it referred six basins to the state water board for intervention. The state water board may consider probation for the Delta-Mendota, Chowchilla and Pleasant Valley subbasins later this year.  

In his update to the board last week, Paul Gosselin, DWR deputy director for sustainable groundwater management, said the two drivers that led to the 2014 passage of SGMA were high rates of land subsidence and thousands of wells that went dry during the drought. He said subsidence remains a significant issue that affects infrastructure. 

“The more we are investigating, we’re finding more and more major issues with subsidence, not just on the high-level conveyance (and) levees but also roads, gas lines and other infrastructure,” Gosselin said. 

Land subsidence is emerging in regions where it hasn’t happened previously, such as in the Sacramento Valley, which he said is “very troubling.” 

DWR is working with state water board staff to develop a draft document of best management practices and related regulation that he said will be released later this year. There will be an opportunity for public comment as documents are circulated for review. The regulation requires several workshops and a presentation to the California Water Commission.  

“This is going to be a significant action for (Groundwater Sustainability Agencies),” Gosselin said. “The basic step is to bring water levels up to critical head, which is the point when groundwater levels were high enough when subsidence wasn’t occurring.”

The process to stop subsidence needs to start now, he said, adding that it will significantly affect land transition. 

“It’s going to cause a significant ask on land transition, so there will have to be a considerable state effort in these areas because you are dealing with a lot of ag transition, jobs and community impacts. But we’re also dealing with a very serious problem that is affecting infrastructure, wells and water conveyance,” Gosselin said. 

Based on initial plans related to groundwater pumping impacts to interconnected surface water, Gosselin said there will also be a guidance document released later this year on this aspect of water management. As agencies implement plans, he said the state will need to “take a look at where different basins are in their implementation horizon, the nature of what level of interconnectedness they have and how far along they are in achieving what we have for guidance.” 

State recommendations for interconnected surface water and subsidence will cause many basins to change what they have planned in their basin, Gosselin said. Looking ahead 15-plus years from now, he said, no plan will look the same as is does today, including approved plans.

DWR will review plans as necessary, but its emphasis will shift as it evaluates whether basin conditions are improving, implementation of project management actions and if recommended corrective actions are carried out. If the department notices significant problems, it may deem a basin inadequate and send it back to the board, even basins that were initially approved.

“We’re going to shift and have more of our emphasis going to whether basin conditions are improving,” Gosselin said. “In the end, all plans will adapt and change.”

Every five years, local agencies will submit plans to DWR for a periodic evaluation. If there are major problems, Gosselin said the department may deem a basin inadequate, and that plan will be returned to the state water board.

E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the state water board, called the work by local agencies who oversee groundwater basins “technically complex,” adding that as the state moves further into SGMA implementation, “that is when things start to get harder.”

“I just have to give a lot of acknowledgment and credit to the GSAs, even those that find themselves with inadequate (Groundwater Sustainability Plans) currently,” he said. “Everyone has continued to just really roll up their sleeves, work together and lean on one another.” 

Christine Souza is senior editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.